“Use a Roth IRA instead of a 529,” many people will tell you. “It’s better for financial aid since it doesn’t count as an asset.” Some people will tell you the same about insurance policies, but those people are insurance salespeople who just want a commission. Deciding whether to use a Roth IRA is a little bit more complicated. Roth…
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Need-based Aid
I get a common question from families applying for college: “I applied to the college but how do I apply for scholarships?” The answer to that is actually pretty simple: If you filed the FAFSA, you have applied for need-based aid. And your application to the college is the application for most merit scholarships. Most institutional awards– that is to…
Once you’ve filed the FAFSA, your work may not be done. That’s because there’s another financial aid form, the CSS Profile. The Profile is used by about 400 private colleges to allocate their own financial aid dollars. The FAFSA and the Profile have a lot of similarities, but also some key differences. Like the FAFSA, the Profile uses parent income…
Expected Family Contribution– the amount that the FAFSA says your family can pay for college– gets a lot of air time. But there’s another number that’s more important: Net Cost. Your Net Cost is your actual cost to attend a college. It’s important to find out about net cost because colleges are under no obligation to meet your financial need….
Are you filing the FAFSA this year? Or in some near-future year? Below are some resources to help you get through it. First though, a quick overview using the 5 W’s and an H: A few things to get you started: What else do you need? You are most welcome to submit questions in the comments section below! Want to…